TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS AT A GLANCE This section lists standards set by the Technology Review Board (TRB) for the District and its governing agencies. The standards span all areas of the automated environment, ranging from software to hardware. Earlier editions of this guide provided lists of approved products. This edition also includes details on the use of each technology standard, the status of any legacy products, and implementation strategy. The summary matrix of the standards provides information at a glance. The software and hardware standards sections detail how to use the product standard and how legacy standards should be treated. SOFTWARE STANDARDS Application Type Vendor Product Summary Desktop Desktop Virus McAfee VirusScan V4.5 All District of Columbia workstations will use McAfee Protection Virus Scan software to protect the District Wide Area Network (DCWAN) from malicious code. New computers should have the VirusScan software installed and configured prior to being deployed. More info: http://www.mcafee.com Office Automation Microsoft Office XP Standard All new purchases will be Office XP Standard. If a user Office XP requires Microsoft Access, the agency can purchase Professional Office XP Professional. This standard applies to office automation only. OCTO has not approved Office as an application development platform. The District supports the use of Excel and Word macros. However, it has not sanctioned complete applications using Access. OCTO is evaluating the best solution for low-end application development. The use of Access as that platform is not recommended until the evaluation has been completed. More info: http://www.microsoft.com 7 Application Type Vendor Product Summary Desktop Desktop Operating Microsoft Windows 2000 Windows XP Professional is the preferred operating System (OS) Windows XP system for all new PC purchases. However, there may be situations in which the user’s environment will not allow for a migration to Windows XP. If hardware or software issues prevent the installation of Windows XP Professional, users can continue to order Windows 2000. The District has standardized on Intel-based personal computers. Apple computers can only be purchased upon approval by OCTO. More info: http://www.microsoft.com Email/Calendar Microsoft Outlook XP The District supports Outlook XP, Outlook 2000, and Client Outlook 2000 Outlook 98 email clients for users of Exchange 5.5 Outlook 98 backend services (the current version of Exchange). Outlook Web Access The District also supports Outlook Web Access with Exchange 5.5 for users that occasionally access email while out of the office. DC will implement Exchange 2000 in 2003. When Exchange 2000 is deployed the preferred email client will be Outlook Web Access. Outlook XP and Outlook 2000 will be supported for notebook users that must have offline access to email. More info: http://www.microsoft.com 8 Application Type Vendor Product Summary Desktop Email Privacy PGP PGP V7 The District does not provide encryption as a standard Corporation service for email. When email is sent across the Internet, it can be intercepted and read. Further, the “from” field in an email message is easily manipulated and does not provide a true validation of who sent an email. Certain users require enhanced security and privacy for their email. PGP Mail is the recommended product for them. The product supports encryption and electronic signatures through the use of private/public key technology. However, PGP Mail is not recommended for all users. In addition, at this time OCTO does not provide key storage. Refer to PGP Mail documentation on key management options. More info: http://www.pgp.com File Encryption PGP PGP V7 General file encryption is not sanctioned by OCTO. Corporation However, users with sensitive information on their PCs may purchase PGP for file encryption. PGP should only be used for individual file encryption. OCTO also does not sanction the encryption of an entire hard drive or partition. Encryption could prevent a PC technician from accessing the hard drive to diagnose a problem. However, encryption is allowed in very rare cases, in particular where very sensitive data is residing on a notebook. In these situations PGP Disk V7 is the recommended product. Windows XP allows a user to encrypt files under certain conditions. The feature is fairly lightweight and therefore PGP is recommended. More info: http://www.pgp.com 9 Application Type Vendor Product Summary Desktop Personal Fax Microsoft Microsoft Fax Microsoft Fax is integrated with all current Windows Symantec WinFax PRO V10 operating systems. It is recommended for the majority of simple inbound and outbound fax transmissions. For more robust fax requirements, the District recommends Winfax Pro V10.0. Winfax Pro should be purchased for users that require more control over their faxes, including the ability to create a single fax from multiple sources. More info: http://www.symantec.com Web Browser Microsoft Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 6.0 is the browser standard for all new 6.0 w/128-bit Windows PCs. Note that other devices, such as PDAs, encryption may have embedded browsers. This standard does not address these devices nor does it address non-Windows platforms. Note that other features embedded within Internet Explorer, such as the email client, are not supported. The intent of this recommendation is to establish a standard for web browsing. More info: http://www.microsoft.com Media Player – Microsoft Media Player V8.0 Microsoft Windows Media Player is a full-function media Desktop player that comes bundled with new PC operating systems. The District has standardized on Media Player for its web infrastructure. More info: http://www.microsoft.com PDA (Personal Palm Palm Personal Digital Assistants provide calendaring, to-do Digital Assistants) Handsprings Visor lists, contacts, and other personal management Compaq iPAQ functions in a handheld device. The District has Sony Clié sanctioned both the Palm (from Palm, Handspring and RIM BlackBerry 950 & Sony) and Windows CE devices (from Compaq) as 957 standards. HotSync Manager (Palm) and ActiveSync (Windows CE) are the sanctioned software that will synchronize the devices with the user’s PC. RIM devices are also supported as both a PDA and a wireless email device. 10 Application Type Vendor Product Summary Desktop Forms Generation Lake JetForm OCTO supports a handful of form management Companies OmniForm applications. Liquid Office uses a number of industry ICM America Liquid Office standard formats for documents and related processes. Cardiff JetForm allows users to print electronic forms, checks and shipping documents. Omniform replaces standard paper forms with compliant electronic forms that can be stored, filled in, and distributed from desktops, laptops, or networks. All are COTS products that allow for management of paper or electronic documents. More info: http://www.lakeco.com/; http://www.icmamerica.com/; http://www.cardiff.com/ Desktop Publishing Adobe Adobe Acrobat V5.0 Desktop publishing packages should be used to create Quark Adobe PageMaker professional-quality publications. Since there is a range V7.0 of requirements, a range of products was selected. QuarkXPress 5.0 More info: http://www.adobe.com and http://www.quark.com Project Microsoft Project 2002 OCTO recommends Microsoft Project 2002 for the Management management of small- to mid-size projects. The product provides all the fundamental functions required to track and manage projects. Microsoft Project 2002 is a general project management tool. Users that require vertical or specific project management tools, such as those used in construction, should consider alternative software. More info: http://www.microsoft.com Server Applications Server Operating Microsoft Windows 2000 OCTO recommends Windows 2000 Server and System – File/Print Server Advanced Server platforms for file and print servers. Windows 2000 Most agencies will deploy Windows 2000 Server rather Advanced Server than Advanced Server. Windows 2000 Advanced Server, with its additional scalability and clustering features, will mainly be deployed in the centralized OCTO data centers. At this time OCTO does not recommend Windows 2000 Data Center. For higher performance requirements OCTO recommends the use of either cluster Windows 2000 Advanced Server machines or Unix. More info: http://www.microsoft.com 11 Application Type Vendor Product Summary Server Applications Server Antivirus McAffee NetShield – Win2000 NetShield, Antigen, and Solaris are the recommended Sybari virus protection software products for the various server Trend Micro Antigen - Exchange platforms. Solaris – Unix (SUN) Antivirus software must be installed on all servers regardless of their use and location. The software must be kept up to date both with current versions and the newest virus signature files. Enterprise SeeBeyond eGate The District has standardized on SeeBeyond for Application eInsight enterprise-level integration. SeeBeyond should be used Integration (EAI) for high-volume and reliable integration of many disparate systems. The benefits of EAI are only realized when the number and complexity of the interfaces is relatively high. Therefore not all interfaces should be built using SeeBeyond. Contact OCTO for assistance to design the optimal solution for a particular interface need. More info: http://www.seebeyond.com Internet Content PPT DSF DSF is the District’s standard framework tool for all Management Internet, intranet, and extranet